Which journals disregard copyright?

[Will Hopkins]

I've agreed to write something for the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, on condition that the editorial board looks seriously at (a) making the journal available free on the Web, and (b) stops asking authors for the copyright of their articles.  The editor has just got back to me with excuses for not doing (a) just yet, and in relation to (b) she has asked me which journals no longer insist on taking copyright.  If you know of any such journals, please tell me.  There is at least one prominent journal in our discipline, but I don't recall which one. 

I think the practice of journals insisting on taking copyright for an author's creative work is disgraceful.  It's got to stop.

By the way, JSMS originates in Australia, where, as we all know, the research on performance enhancement and application of science to sport is second to none.  JSMS has been a journal without an impact factor, but apparently it is now in the database of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and therefore will inevitably build up its impact.  Let's hope JSMS gets recognized internationally as a leading journal in sport performance research.  Free Web access to its articles would accelerate that process, because the articles would reach far more readers and would therefore end up getting cited more frequently.

Will

Will G Hopkins, PhD FACSM
Direct dial +64 9 917 9793, Fax +64 9 917 9960
Sports Studies
Auckland University of Technology
Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1020, New Zealand
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Statistics: http://newstats.org
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Be creative: break rules.